Please wait while schedule loads.
An Analysis of Stakeholder Advisory Committees in Coastal Resiliency Projects
Type of Session
Individual Paper Presentation
Abstract
To make applied scientific research more responsive to stakeholder needs and more inclusive of the perspectives and concerns of community members, many long-term research projects include a stakeholder advisory committee (SAC) that interacts with project scientists throughout the project’s duration. SACs have different roles, including raising interest groups’ concerns, advising on cultural issues, co-determining the content and format of research results, and helping researchers communicate with the local community. The structure of SACs and mechanisms for interaction among committee members and project scientists also vary. While certain funding agencies (e.g., U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) require SACs, there is yet no single model or set of best practices that researchers trying to establish and manage one for their project can follow.
This presentation will report on results of research aimed to understand how SACs are integrated into applied scientific research for coastal resiliency, with a focus on identifying and describing the types, characteristics, roles, and effectiveness of SACs for research projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The study’s research questions were: How are SACs structured and managed in different coastal projects? How effective are SACs and what factors influence effectiveness? What are the challenges and opportunities for both scientific researchers and community members?
Additionally, we will discuss how our prior experiences with SACs informed decisions on the composition and management of a SAC for a related new multi-year transdisciplinary research project. Specifically, we will describe the structure and functioning of the SAC for a previous seven-year transdisciplinary research project on the ecological effects of sea level rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, discuss how that SAC changed over the course of the project, and offer reflections and lessons learned. Then, we will share how those experiences guided the formation, expectations, and operation of the new coastal project’s SAC.